Computer-aided Design of Bow Thrusters for Marine Vehicles

摘要

In recent times conventional circular bow thruster dominate the field of maneuvering propulsion devices (MPD) with respect to units installed because it enables the normal process of docking to be managed without tug assistance since the marine-vehicle is made more maneuverable at low speeds, hence reducing the turn-around time. However, the design of bow thruster is still difficult became of lack of a proper numerical procedure. This paper discusses a computer-aided design procedure for the bow thruster. This paper discusses the hydrodynamic forces and moments produced by bow thruster and their incorporation in the design process. The various design parameters (ie, general duct arrangement, duct diameter, shape, weight, and impeller design) are discussed in the case of bow thruster design for marine vehicles. In this paper, a minimum number of operational requirements, eg, single bow thruster, a specified turning rate, a duty cycle and a wind speed against which it can be cleared without tug-assistance are considered. In recent times different types of thrusters have been installed and proposed for consideration and development, ie, single and multiple units installed near the ship's and/'or stern, axial flow impellers (embracingfixed pitch, controllable pitch, counter rotating), cyclodial impellers, and jet configurations such as ejectors ram etc. The various types of thrusters are also briefly reviewed in this work. Finally, one design example of bow thruster design for marine 'vehicle (ie, a feeder container ship) has been presented, with a comparative study with the existing method of preliminary selection for design parameters in the case of bow thruster design.